Kap Antoon
Kap Antoon '''is the capital and largest city of Alfonsinia. As of 2018 it had an estimated population of 25,000. It was established as a Spanish port city in 1625 under its original name '''Cabo Antonio, and is named after the geographical cape where it is located. The majority of the island's population live here. Kap Antoon is the oldest city in Alfonsinia and has been the economic and administrative hub of the island for centuries. Many buildings in the city, especially in the old town, are built in a colonial style; dating from the times of Spanish rule, coexisting with modern buildings built since independence. The downtown streets have a square design, with pedestrian areas. This phenomenon causes a feeling of architecture attenuated by the low height of buildings in a combination of architectural Westernization and Africanism. Most of the capital's roads, however, are still made of dirt, and haven't been repaved or improved since the 1980's. History The town was established and inaugurated in 1625, just a year after the island's discovery, by sailors sent from the Spanish Netherlands. The capital city was officially denominated La Más Noble y Honorable Villa del Cabo de Antonio ''(Spanish: "The Most Noble and Honourable Town of the Cape of Antonio"), but its name was eventually reduced to just Cabo Antonio in 1808; however the sign bearing the town's original official name can still be seen at the entrance of the historic old town. In 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Cabo Antonio was the location of a battle between the inhabitants of the town, who had pledged their allegiance to the Bourbon candidate Philip of Anjou, and Dutch allies of the Grand Alliance loyal to the House of Habsburg. The assaulting Grand Alliance defeated the resistance in Cabo Antonio and temporarily occupied the town. While they controlled it, the ethnically Dutch Spanish settlers were encouraged to speak Dutch in public instead of the Spanish tongue of the Empire, something which would be pivotal in the development of the island's Germanic language which would be known as Laagspaans. In 1714, as the war was reaching its end, 33 Bourbon soldiers, with the assistance of the townsfolk, took back control and kicked out the Dutch invaders. In 1911, King Alfonso XIII famously visited Cabo Antonio, and was surprised by the gift of a statue in his honour in the middle of the old town square, the Plaza del Rey. Despite not being part of Spain anymore, the people of the city chose to preserve his statue and the monarchist roots of the square's name. When the monarchy was ousted in 1931 and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed, five members of the far-right pro-white Reiziger supremacist group '''Blauetraak' and ex-Armada officers Jule Winvieel. Anders van die Vaal, Markus Troppe, Lars Lokraaupe and Wikus Ruhlemann attempted to storm the Governor's Manor in Cabo Antonio, make Alfonsinia secede from Spain and install a Laagspaans-speaking Reiziger-supremacist government in what was known as the First Reiziger coup, which failed when the Republican Guardias de Asalto showed enough resistance to successfully prevent the coup and keep the island under Spanish control. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, however, the same revolutionaries tried to do the same thing again now that there was less stability. The Second Reiziger coup was successful, and Alfonsinia was declared an independent country. The following year, the new government banned the Spanish language across the island and established measures to get rid of as many colonial Spanish elements as possible and replace them with Reiziger elements (except the Plaza del Rey, which many citizens who still felt somewhat loyal to Spain forcefully prevented). For example, Cabo Antonio was given a new official name in Laagspaans: Kap Antoon, the name it possesses to this day. Not just the city's name, but native black citizens with Bubi names were forced to change their names to Laagspaans ones, and ethnically European citizens with Spanish names were forced to change their names into translated versions: people named "Agustin" had to change their names to "Augustijn", "Pedro" became "Pieter", "Rebeca" became "Rebekka", "Susana" became "Suuzanne"...). After this racist and undemocratic Directory government collapsed in the 1950's and the country became a democratic republic, the Spanish language was reintroduced and was made co-official along with Laagspaans. However, the capital retained its Laagspaans name Kap Antoon, and many of its landmarks and also its inhabitants were forced to retain their forcefully-translated names. This is the reason why many of the country's politicians during the Cold War had Dutch-sounding names; people with fully Spanish and African names were incredibly rare up until the 1970's. The town didn't really change much since the presidency of Willem Bauhammer (1980-1999). Demographics Most of the capital city's inhabitants are white Reizigers and Spaniards, with the native black people forming the capital's minority. However, despite the white settlers being the town's majority, they are not the majority across the entire island. In fact, the Reizigers and Spaniards are almost entirely concentrated in this city, with a few living in Conpuval as well, but the population of the rest of the island's towns and settlements are all native Africans.Category:Capital City Category:City Category:West Africa Category:Africa Category:Cities